Traditionally, adults with intellectual disabilities have not been given the option of participating in and thus benefiting from higher and post-secondary education. However, over the last number of years, an increasing number of inclusive tertiary educational programmes have come into existence. This article focuses on one such programme entitled Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice delivered in the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. The aim of this study was to consider the role of embodiment in supporting the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) process of a group of students with intellectual disabilities. The paper describes a project which integrated two of the programme modules ? Italian for Beginners and Exploring Art: Renaissance to Modern. Findings presented support the use of a performative approach to second language learning for students with intellectual disabilities and sheds light on th...

Traditionally, adults with intellectual disabilities have not been given the option of participating in and thus benefiting from higher and post-secondary education. However, over the last number of years, an increasing number of inclusive tertiary educational programmes have come into existence. This article focuses on one such programme entitled Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice delivered in the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. The aim of this study was to consider the role of embodiment in supporting the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) process of a group of students with intellectual disabilities. The paper describes a project which integrated two of the programme modules – Italian for Beginners and Exploring Art: Renaissance to Modern. Findings presented support the use of a performative approach to second language learning for students with intellectual disabilities and sheds light on t...

Purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to explore service users? experiences of a mindfulness group intervention.
Design/methodology/approach:
In total, 15 participants with a diagnosis of a mild or moderate intellectual disability and concurrent mental health difficulties were interviewed using semi-structured interviews about their experiences of attending the mindfulness group.
Findings:
Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. The three super ordinate themes that emerged were positive aspects of mindfulness, positive aspects of attending the group and negative aspects of attending the group. There were seven subthemes. The results highlighted that participants found the mindfulness group to be beneficial, partly due to specific aspects of the mindfulness intervention and partly due to the group process. The negative aspects of the group were harder to elicit, and were less specifically related to mindfulness.
Originality/value:
Mindfulness-based interventions have em...

Background: The active involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in research, or inclusive research, is relatively common. However, inclusive health research is less common, even though it is expected to lead to appropriate healthcare and increased quality of life. Inclusive health research can build upon lessons learned from inclusive research.
Method: A total of 17 experts on inclusive (health) research without intellectual disabilities and 40 experts with intellectual disabilities collaborated in this consensus statement. The consensus statement was developed in three consecutive rounds: (1) an initial feedback round; (2) a roundtable discussion at the 2016 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities World Congress; and (3) a final feedback round.
Results: This consensus statement provides researchers with guidelines, agreed upon by experts in the field, regarding attributes, potential outcomes, reporting and publis...

Adults with an intellectual disability have poorer diets than the general adult population. The Able 2 Cook 4 Health cookery course aims to improve the diets of adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability. This study aims to evaluate the course by obtaining the views of course participants and the views of managers hosting the course. Thirty course participants took part in focus groups. Five managers hosting the course participated in a semi-structured interview. Positive features of the course included the group cooking, social interaction and course instructors. Collaboration between centres hosting the course and participants' home environment is needed to help transfer the skills learned to all home settings. The Able 2 Cook 4 Health cookery course provided participants with an important social outlet to learn essential occupational skills. These findings could particularly influence the diets of adults with an intellectual disability moving into independent living.

The overall aim of this research is to explore the perceptions of career guidance counsellors, employers and business supervisors who work with individuals affected by intellectual disabilities (ID’s) who are looking to transition into employment, within a supported employment programme. The literature review of this study focuses on literature concerning the areas of disability, em-ployment, education and guidance whilst also examining the current barriers to employment of with people with ID’s.
An interpretivist qualitative methodology was used to explore the perceptions of two guidance counsellors, two employers and two business supervisors. A semi-structured approach allowed for flexibility and depth within this research, which generated important insights into this under-researched topic. The findings of this research indicate that there is a need for increased resources and developed structures within the supported employment sector. There also seems to be poor levels of aware...

The three year training programme aims at developing the student nurse to the highest possible professional
standard. Emphasis throughout must be placed on broad educational processes which will affect and expedite the
maturing and total personality development of the student nurse. These broad educational processes will be an
aid towards self-fulfilment and help develop self-confidence.

Background: People with intellectual disabilities are experiencing increased longevity, and in parallel, their family caregivers are also ageing. The literature identifies that these caregivers are at risk of burden. The aim of this study was to measure the level of caregiver burden among older carers of adults with intellectual disabilities in an Irish sample and to analyse the effect of socio‐demographic factors upon experiences of caregiver burden. Materials and Methods: Thirty caregivers completed a survey questionnaire. Data were collected based upon participants’ self‐reports of burden using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and a socio‐demographic questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 24. Results: Over 57% of carers indicated a mild‐to‐moderate level of burden. Analysis indicated that younger caregivers experience significantly higher levels of burden, when compared to older caregivers. Conclusions: This study contributes to our understanding of burden among an ...

Due to technological advancement the number of children with intellectual and other forms of disabilities in Ireland and globally are increasing. The number of children with Intellectual Disability (ID) and other disabilities in Ireland being cared for at home are also increasing due to the recent emphases on the caring of people with disabilities in their homes. As these numbers are increasing the numbers of those who care for them in the homes are also increasing.
For all parents caring for one‘s child (ren) brings joy and achievement but also has challenges and stress. However parent carers of children with ID have been regarded as a unique group of caregivers as they face unique circumstances and challenges and these affect the Quality of life (QOL) of these parent carers.This studies was therefore done to explore the perceptions of parent carers of children with Intellectual Disability in relation to their Quality of Life. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants and...

This report presents data for 2012 on the demographic profile of those who are registered on the National Intellectual Disability Database, their current usage of day and residential services, and a range of multidisciplinary supports.
It also presents information on the needs of people with intellectual disability for such services into the future (2013-2017). The report is number 19 in the HRB Statistics Series.

The mental healthcare of prisoners is seen as a public health challenge internationally.
Emerging research has highlighted higher rates of mental illness and intellectual disabilities
in prisons as compared to general population prevalence across multiple jurisdictions. This is
reflected in higher rates of adverse outcomes such as suicide rates amongst prisoners.
Psychiatrists visiting prisons play a key role in providing clinical guidance and expertise in
managing those with mental illness in prison, identifying those that need diversion from the
criminal justice system and highlighting those that may need additional support so as to
reduce suicide risk. This is done whilst operating in an environment with specific clinical, legal
and ethical challenges. As presented in this thesis, Irish prisons have higher rates of multiple
vulnerabilities including mental illness, substance misuse, homelessness and intellectual
disabilities as compared to the general population. Advances in scre...

A review jointly commissioned by the HSE and Tusla into the circumstances whereby a
vulnerable young adult (“Mary”) with an intellectual disability, in receipt of services from
both agencies, continued to reside with a former foster family following a report being
received of a retrospective allegation of abuse, which did not relate to residents in the foster
home.

According to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate communication as a human right in the life of a young man called Declan who has Down syndrome. This commentary paper is co-written by Declan, his sister who is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) with an advocacy role, his SLP, and academics. Declan discusses, in his own words, what makes communication hard, what helps communication, his experiences of speech-language pathology, and what he knows about human rights. He also discusses his passion for politics, his right to be an active citizen and participate in the political process. This paper also focuses on the role of speech-language pathology in supporting and partnering with people with communi...

Inappropriate sexual behaviors are a subset of challenging behaviors that limit the community integration of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Despite the stigmatizing effect of problematic sexual behavior, research efforts in this area have been limited and often used narrow prospective definitions. As such, research has been limited to a focus on "sexual offending" and "abuse," terms which are often criticized in their applicability to people with intellectual disabilities given their connotations of criminal intent or insight. The authors propose adopting the term "sexualized challenging behavior" and define it by using empirical methods. Using a qualitative methodology, they examined a six-month sample of service-based documentation reporting sexual behaviors that were problematic. They also conducted semi-structured interviews with a staff-based sample and explored their views in relation to sexual behavior. Common themes emerged across b...

Social inclusion is an important goal for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, families, service providers, and policymakers; however, the concept of social inclusion remains unclear, largely due to multiple and conflicting definitions in research and policy. We define social inclusion as the interaction between two major life domains: interpersonal relationships and community participation. We then propose an ecological model of social inclusion that includes individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and socio-political factors. We identify four areas of research that our ecological model of social inclusion can move forward: (1) organizational implementation of social inclusion; (2) social inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living with their families, (3) social inclusion of people along a broader spectrum of disability, and (4) the potential role of self-advocacy organizations in promoting social inclusion

Epidemiological evidence suggests that poor physical health and depression are highly comorbid. To date, however, no study has considered whether depression in parents caring for children with developmental disabilities is partly driven by poor physical health. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland national cohort study (2006 to date), 627 parents of children with developmental disabilities were compared with 7941 parents of typically developing children on scores from the Centre for Epidemiological Depression Scale, chronic health conditions, socio-demographic and child behavioural characteristics. Having a child with disabilities was associated with a higher risk of depression (odds ratio (OR) = 1.83, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43, 2.35) compared to parents of typically developing children. Adjusting for the presence of chronic health conditions accounted for some of this excess risk (OR = 1.77,95% Cl: 1.38, 2.27). The association between having a child with disabilities ...

Product personalisation has become a central topic and expected part of every day life. Different people have different characteristics and abilities and every single user has different needs which means that products have to be tailored accordingly. Micro- wave ovens are one of the most commonly used home appliances. People use them to quickly heat or cook certain foods. Today, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statis- tics, more than 90% of U.S. households own a microwave oven [11]. This project seeks to enable people with intellectual disabilities and physical impairments to perform sim- ple cooking tasks. The target group includes ageing people who experience difficulties in using microwave systems, with a particularly low grade of autonomy in preparing foods and meals. In order to address the specific needs of the defined group of users, the research follows the principles of the Quality Function Deployment analysis and takes inspiration from the DfA (Design for All) theories...

A working definition of ‘disability’ is crucial to any research, policy development
or service provision in the field. There are many definitions of disability (Iezzoni &
Freedman, 2008), some directly contradicting others. These differences originate
from the different theoretical viewpoints which have been and are still being used to
articulate what ‘disability’ is. These ‘competing’ models – though such competition
is not explicitly stated in many cases – contribute to the confusion which often
accompanies policy work and service provision in the disability-specific sector and
those sectors closely connected – such as family caring. Recent developments and discussions within the disability and family caring sectors in Ireland only highlight the challenges of obtaining a general consensus on the conceptualisation of disability.
The purpose of this paper, as with all papers in this series, is to ask questions with the
aim of stimulating debate and critical thinking within the s...

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex, life-long, neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with high unemployment rates and community participation restrictions that impact quality of life. In recent years, there has been a rapid uptake in the incorporation of technology in educational settings. This thesis evaluated the use of technology in teaching employment skills for adults with ASD.
Study 1 conducted a systematic review of technology-aided interventions. The findings showed empirical evidence supporting the use of technology for teaching a variety of employment skills. Findings also indicated that the majority of evidence is derived from samples of the High Functioning Autism (HFA) and/or Asperger’s population with limited research investigating adults with ASD who present with co-occurring Intellectual Disabilities (ID). Using the criteria of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) proposed by Reichow (2011) the body of research to date enables technology-aided interventio...

As part of its policy on the provision of services for the handicapped,
the Department of Health is committed to the principle of vocational
rehabilitation of handicapped persons and their integration insofar as
possible into the normal activities of the community. In pursuit of
this aim, the Department has supported, financially and otherwise, the
setting-up of a considerable number of community workshops and training
centres for handicapped persons. The number of places available in such
establishments has grown rapidly in recent years and, in particular, since
the publication of the Report of the Working Party on Training and
Employing the Handicapped in April 1975 (the Robins Report).